Horological Meandering

Very little materialised meanwhile, and even less convincing proposals.

Quietly, the aviation-specialised watch brand has not simply announced its smartwatch, it has actually presented it hands-on during Basel 2015: The Breitling B55 Connected:

Styled in the tradition of the Breitling Emergency watches, timepiece is anything but small: the case is crafted from 46mm wide titanium case with black carbon-based coating. After all, this watch is designed as an 'instrument for (aviation) professionals'.

The B55 Connected is first and foremost an electronic multifunction chronograph, offering a host of analogue and digital displays, most of them reserved for aeronautical time functions.

Driven by an in-house development based upon a COSC-certified, thermo-compensated SuperQuartz^TM movement (its technical basis was actually used already in the B55's predecessor B50 Cockpit), the watch offers the following:

- 12/24-hour watch

- 1/100th of a second chronograph

- Coordinated Universal Time (UTC)

- Countdown/Countup (or MET Mission Elapsed Time)

- flight time chronograph

- lap timer chronograph

- electronic tachometer

- countdown

- 2nd timezone

- 2 daily alarms

- electronic compass

- perpetual calendar with week display

- battery charge indicator.

All the above functions are displayed in cooperative manner using a central analogue combined with a two large LED displays with ultra-bright backlight. These displays light automatically when the timepiece is tilted to a 35-degree angle (think Apple Watch!). 

Like the B50, the most basic control such as time-setting, chronograph and function selection is achieved quite conventionally via the crown and the two pushers, respectively.

However, the B55 is also 'connected', as its name implies. In contrast to most existing smart watches (which are actually not that smart given their need for a tethered smart phone to execute a majority of functions), the respective tasks are differently assigned:

The smart phone, actually an iPhone using Breitling's dedicated Breitling B55 Connected app, serves merely as a remote control and a data-base for the timepiece itself.

As the (not so shyly presented) network logo on the dial suggests, the connection between phone and watch is achieved via Bluetooth technology. At first, after firing on the B55 app, the screen presents the electronic reflect of the watch's display together with the a set of other essential indications, amongst them the two timezones set, UTC, the two alarm times as well as the battery indicator:

Below the main display you can already detect a wealth of additional menu items. These include setting parameters such as alarms and timezones, but also (mainly) aviation-driven features such as an electronic tachometer, a countdown/countup system, and mission elapsed time. As it befits a pilot's tool, it can also record flight times, including the take-off time, landing time and date.

Of particular interest for the active pilot is a log feature that allows the owner to upload, store and distribute via the iPhone chronograph records as well as useful parameters such as recorded flight times including the take-off time, landing time and date. 

Unfortunately I was in quite a rush in Basel and had only very limited time with the B55 Connected so that I could not record a video on the watch/iPhone interaction. But I still tried to set the time zone via the phone. First, you select the respective menu on the phone's display. There, you can easily chose a tome according your current location or conveniently from an alphabetically ordered list of cities:

Yes, there is not much shyness and restraint on this watch, but it is not a squaller either. Its legibility is unquestionable, as is its practicality as a tool: the essential information is always readable at first fight - this is how it should be!

Despite its large diameter (an thickness), the tank-like construction and the features (with a matching battery...) packed into its 46mm case, the B55 is actually surprisingly pleasant to wear.

Its light and a feels almost like a touch- or pebble stone on the wrist. To achieve such an important haptic quality I think traditional watch manufacturers have the edge over computer-turned-(smart-)watch producers (although I would except Apple from the group, here) as it takes a lot of experience to master this discipline.

If you ever held e.g. a Breitling SuperOcean in your hands you know what I refer to as a benchmark (I think these watches have some of the best haptic qualities on the market in respect to case design).

So, in summary I think Breitling made an important and at the same time traditional as well as refreshing introduction into the 'smart' watch arena. They turned the relationship watch-phone upside down and use the phone as a remote control and data hub, and not as the brain of the wrist device. 

The B55 Connected does not feature exciting computational powers nor any apps you can load onto it. Thus I put the term 'smart' in quotation marks as the B55 is not really smart but rather connected - just as its name (quite correctly) implies.

It is an instrument and not a gadget. Its price (not named according to my knowledge, but the B50 was something around 5000€, thus the B55 will not be any cheaper), its dedication (as a tool) as well as its construction place it above easily exhaustible wrist gadgets.



Do I like this watch - you guess. It is perhaps the first quartz watch that I would like to own. It is still expensive, but it is a tool which can (potentially) safe your life (if your are a pilot, a captain or a scientist - or if you have otherwise navigation problems to solve in the field).

It does not revolutionise the smart watch market, nor does it have to. 

It is simply a modernised and very contemporary tool, which offers a quite satisfying stop-gap solution until technology makes real smart watches amenable also for professionals who have to rely on them - everywhere in the world (battery performance as well as ruggedness come to mind as problems to be solved).

Thanks for reading and for your discussion.

Cheers,

Magnus

 

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